Tiz a Slam installed as early 3-1 favourite for Queen’s Plate thoroughbred race

TORONTO â€” Tiz a Slam, a three-time winner in four juvenile starts, was installed Wednesday at the early 3-1 favourite for the 158th edition of The Queen’s Plate.

Should Tiz a Slam win the race scheduled for July 2 at Woodbine Racetrack, he’d provide Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield a record ninth victory.

“If I can pull it off one day it would be super,” said Attfield. “It’s nice to be here in Florida at the moment with one that looks like he could be a Plate horse.

“With a little bit of racing luck, anything can happen.”

Attfield saddled the Winterbook favourite Shakhimat in last year’s Plate, finishing fifth after setting the early pace.

The hypothetical Winterbook offers early odds on all 91 three-year-olds, 81 colts and geldings, as well as 10 fillies, nominated to the 2017 Canadian Triple Crown.

To win the Queen’s Plate, Tiz a Slam will have to prove his endurance over a mile and a quarter on Woodbine’s main track.

“I’m training him in that direction,” Attfield said. “The proof will be when he runs but I think he will, as he won going a mile and a sixteenth as a two-year-old which is always encouraging.”

Attfield, a member of both the U.S. and Canadian Horse Racing Halls of Fame, said Tiz a Slam could find his way into a Kentucky Derby prep.

“I gave him a little more time off than I maybe should have,” Attfield said. “But he’ll almost certainly start here in Florida and might go to the Tampa Bay Derby (Mar. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs) or the Spiral (Mar. 25 at Turfway Park).

“He’s got a lot of options,” said Attfield.

King and His Court is the 5-1 second choice. The Mark Casse-trained horse will look to become the first since Norcliffe in 1975-76 to record the Coronation Futurity-Queen’s Plate double.

State of Honor, trained by Casse for owner-breeder Conrad Farms, is listed as the 6-1 third choice.